


I Remember the Crop Top

by XxmerthurcatxX



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: A little bit of angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post Season 3, but i ended up with this instead, max always knows, some fluffy bits, this was supposed to be a cute crop top fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22657864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxmerthurcatxX/pseuds/XxmerthurcatxX
Summary: Steve finds Billy's Everlast crop top when he's helping Max clean out Billy's room. It brings back memories that are almost too much for him to remember because Billy was gone now...wasn't he?
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 6
Kudos: 132





	I Remember the Crop Top

Steve stared at the clothes in Billy’s closet. They were more organized than he thought they would be. At the very least all “like” things were together; jackers, sweaters, button up shirts. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to run his fingers down the baby blue button up that Billy had worn under his graduation gown. Steve smiled at the memory of Billy dragging him under the bleachers to smoke a joint before they had to go out and face their parents and friends and pretend that they hated each other. 

“You miss him.” 

Steve jumped, startled by the voice even though he knew who it was. Max. She was the only one who knew that Steve and Billy were...friends? That didn’t seem right. They still bickered and hurled insults back and forth at each other, but there was never any malice behind their words. They’d gotten disgustingly drunk at Tracy’s post Prom party, which ended in the two of them crying all over each other while Billy apologized for that night at the Byers and sobbed about what a piece of shit his dad was. Steve cried about the uncertainty of his future and the nightmares he was plagued by, not sparing any details because they were both drunk as hell and he didn’t think Billy would remember anyway. They’d woken up the next morning still curled around each other, awkward and embarrassed until Steve claimed that pancakes were the best cure for a hangover, and drove them both to a little diner outside of town. 

The rest was history. 

They’d hang out in secret, smoking joints or drinking whatever bottle of booze Steve had smuggled out of his parents well stocked liquor. Steve liked it. It was nice having someone to talk to who he didn’t also have to babysit. 

_ One night, when Billy was supposed to head over to Steve’s to watch shitty TV and get high, he’d been late. Really late. When he finally showed up he was sporting a bruised cheek and a cut across his eyebrow, and Max was in tow, a handprint on her face and tears on her cheeks.  _

_ Steve sat both of them on the couch, bags of frozen peas pressed to both their injuries, and mugs of cocoa in their hands.  _

_ “Jesus, Harrington, I knew you were a mother hen, but cocoa? Really?” Billy asked.  _

_ Steve blushed.  _

_ “Shut up. Your mug is already half empty, stop acting like you don’t like it,” he groussed.  _

_ Max was still sniffling, her cocoa mostly untouched. Steve hadn’t been able to squeeze the whole story out of either of them, but it sounded like Neil had been using Billy like a punching bag and Max, in an attempt to get him to stop, got caught in the crossfire.  _

_ “I didn’t know you guys were friends,” Max said.  _

_ She looked confused, which was fair. They’d been at each other’s throats since they first met and now all of a sudden Steve’s house was somewhere Billy went when he needed to feel safe.  _

_ Billy shrugged.  _

_ “Harrington’s not so bad. Underneath the preppy exterior.” _

_ Steve rolled his eyes.  _

_ “Your brother’s an asshole,” he said seriously. “But he’s also kind of funny, I guess. Not a total loss to have him as a friend.” _

Max promised to keep it a secret, even though she didn’t really understand why. Steve was grateful to her for that. The less people who knew how down Steve truly was about death--or disappearance according to El and Max--the better. Robin had managed to drag it out of him when Steve had called her crying after a nightmare and she’d had to rush over and hold him until everything was okay again. 

“Yeah...I miss him,” Steve said finally, pulling clothes from the closet and folding them to tuck them away in one of the boxes Max had brought. Neil was on a tear, ready to throw all of Billy’s stuff away, but Max wasn’t having it. Which was why Steve was there, along with Hopper and Joyce, helping her pack up his things to be stored in Steve’s shed. 

“What if,” Max started, biting her bottom lip. “W-what if I told you we found him. Or, um, El did.” 

Steve sighed, moving from the closet to the dresser and pulling open one of the drawers. 

“Max, we’ve been over this. He’s not--

“He’s alive,” Max said stubbornly. “I know how it sounds, but come on Steve, it’s not like it’s the first time someone has come back from the dead in Hawkins. Everyone thought El was dead too and they were wrong.”

Steve was about to gently remind her that Billy hadn’t disappeared into the Upside Down like El, and had in fact been run through with a bunch of monster tentacles, when his eyes landed on a familiar looking shirt in Billy’s drawer. 

It was soft and grey, with short sleeves and a shorter hemline. The word “Everlast” was written across the front in big black letters. It was the crop top Billy wore in his Hawkins Pool staff photo. The crop top that Billy was wearing the night that he fell asleep in Steve’s bed, after showing up late with fresh bruises on his stomach. 

_ “Do you wanna talk about it?” Steve asked, laying on his side, facing Billy.  _

_ Billy was staring up at the ceiling, his expression unreadable, though that may have been because the lights were off.  _

_ “Dad hates this shirt,” he said.  _

_ Steve frowned. He hadn’t been paying much attention to what Billy was wearing, too focused on getting him ice for the bruising. The word “Everlast” flashed in his mind and he remembered not having to lift Billy’s shirt to see the bruises because his midriff was already exposed. Oh right. He was wearing a crop top.  _

_ “Why?” Steve asked. Plenty of guys wore crop tops. Hell, Steve had one in the bottom of his drawer that he usually only busted out to shoot hoops in.  _

_ Billy shrugged. Uncomfortable silence stretched between them. There was more that the other boy wanted to say, Steve could tell, but he was radiating nervous energy.  _

_ “You can tell me,” Steve said. “Whatever it is, it’s okay.”  _

_ Billy sighed, pressing the heels on his hands to his eyes.  _

_ “He said...he said only fags wear crop tops,” Billy said quiety and oh, oh suddenly a lot of things were clicking into place. Robin said she thought that Billy was overcompensating for something and that when he sauntered into Scoops and gave Steve a hard time he was really flirting. Steve hadn’t gotten his hopes up because if Robin was wrong and Billy was straight as an arrow then it would make things between them awkward as all hell.  _

_ “Billy,” Steve started, biting his lip nervously, unsure if he should continue. “Billy are you-- _

_ “Don’t,” Billy said, voice desperate as he cut Steve off. “Don’t make me...I-I can’t...” he trailed off, sounding dangerously close to being on the verge of tears.  _

_ Steve shuffled closer, reaching out and tentatively resting his hand on Billy’s shoulder.  _

_ “It’s okay. I mean, it’s okay if you are. I won’t tell anyone,” Steve said honestly.  _

_ Billy groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes and shaking his head.  _

_ “But you won’t wanna hang out with me anymore right? You wouldn’t want to hang around with a f-- _

_ “Hey!” Steve cut him off, squeezing his shoulder. “I said it’s okay and I meant it. It doesn’t have to change anything.” _

_ Billy was quiet for a long moment and for a second Steve thought he’d fallen asleep. One thing he’d learned about Billy since they started hanging out was that he was prone to suddenly crashing, when the adrenaline of the day wore off and he got so tired he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. But then the other boy was shifting onto his side to face Steve and even in the dark Steve could see that he looked scared.  _

_ “What if...what if it does change things?” Billy asked.  _

_ Steve frowned.  _

_ “What do you mean?” _

_ Billy’s tongue darted out to trace his bottom lip and Steve couldn’t stop himself from following the movement.  _

_ “What if I want--what if I...” he trailed off, snapping his mouth shut and looking like he was ready to bolt.  _

_ Steve caught Billy by the hip before he could make a run for it, breath hitching when his thumb brushed against the warm skin of Billy’s abdomen. Right. He was wearing a crop top. Billy made a sound deep in the back of his throat as Steve rubbed slow circles against his skin. Steve had no idea what he was doing. He’d never...not with another boy anyway. But Billy was warm and beautiful and so close. God, Steve wanted him. Maybe not now though, when he was hurting from a fight with his dad. The last thing Steve wanted to do was take advantage while he was vulnerable.  _

_ Apparently, Billy got impatient waiting for Steve to make a move because the next minute he was shifting close, sliding a hand up to rest on the back of Steve’s neck.  _

_ “You gonna kiss me, or what?” he asked, sounding both sure of himself and terrified at the same time.  _

_ Steve huffed a laugh, pressing his forehead to Billy’s.  _

_ “Later. When you’re thinking clearly and you’re not exhausted, if you still want me to, I will,” Steve promised, smiling at the annoyed huff he got in response.  _

_ “I’m thinking clearly now,” Billy grumbled.  _

_ Steve pressed a lingering kiss to Billy’s forehead, dragging him in so that Billy could tuck himself into the curve of Steve’s neck.  _

_ “Sleep first,” Steve said and, despite Billy’s protests that he was fine, a moment later his soft snores filled the room.  _

_ Steve smiled, kissing the top of his head.  _

_ Later. _

Of course, “later” never happened. When Steve woke up the next morning Billy was already gone, which was fine, since he worked the early shift at the pool. He left a note, saying he’d be by later. But he never showed...and it wasn’t until Steve dragged himself out of a Russian bunker just in time to see Billy get skewered by a monster, that he knew why. 

Steve stared harder at the crop top in his hands, trying to ignore the way his eyes were stinging. When he got himself back under some semblance of control and was sure he wouldn’t start opening sobbing, he raised his head to look at Max. 

“Where is he?”

XXXXXXXXXX

Apparently, when Max said that El knew where Billy was, what she really meant was, El had some incredibly vague idea of where he might be. 

“He’s somewhere in Hawkins,” Max said. 

“Well that narrows it down,” Lucas mumbled under his breath, yelping when Max punched his arm. “Sorry! I’m just trying to be realistic. That’s a lot of area to cover.”

“There are seven of us, plus Hopper and Mrs. Byers,” Dustin said, already trying to work out a strategy. “Nancy and Jonathan would help if we asked. If we split up we could--

Steve got to his feet, hands on his hips as he shook his head. 

“Absolutely not. No splitting up. Remember, it’s my ass on the line if you dipshits get in trouble or get hurt,” he glanced down at his watch. “And it’s getting late. Why don’t we regroup tomorrow? We can figure out a better game plan then.” 

There were grunts of protest all around and Max looked like she wanted to argue, but thought better of it when Steve fixed her with a look that she had seen on her mother’s face more times than she could count whenever she rolled in late from hanging out anywhere. 

“Fine,” she agreed, grabbing El’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “El’s sleeping over at my place tonight, we’ll see if we can get a better read on his location.” 

Steve held the door open as the kids left one by one, catching Max with a hand on her shoulder before she could go. 

“Hey, uh, we’ll find him okay? It might take a while but if he’s out there, we’ll make sure he gets back safe,” Steve told her, unsure if he was really trying to reassure her or if it was more for his benefit. Either way Max nodded, a small sad smile on her face, then she and El were running down the stairs to hop on Max’s bike and head home. 

Steve let the door close, leaning back against it with a sigh. He scrubbed a hand tiredly over his eyes, his thoughts running wild as he headed to the kitchen to reheat whatever he could find in his fridge. If Billy was in Hawkins, why hadn’t he come straight to Steves? Did he think he wouldn’t be welcome? What if El was wrong? What if he wasn’t alive? What if he was--

A quiet knock against the sliding glass door that led out back to the pool made Steve flinch. He thought maybe one of the kids had forgotten something, but the figure on the other side of the door was too big to be any of them. 

Steve’s internal danger alarm was running wild, his fingers itching for his bat as he inched closer to the door. His eyes went wide with recognition and the next minute he was yanking the door open in recognition. 

The boy on the other side of the door was a mess; covered in mud and dripping wet from the rain storm that had started up just as the kids were leaving. His hair was overgrown and tangled as hell, hanging limply down to his shoulders and there was stubble on his chin that definitely wasn’t there the last time Steve saw him.

“Billy,” he asked cautiously. 

The boy lifted his head, eyes a little glassy but the beginnings of a smirk forming on his lips. 

“Hey there, pretty boy.” 

Steve choked on a laugh that might have been more of a sob as he reached out and pulled Billy inside and straight into his arms. It occurred to him a split second later that maybe Billy wouldn’t want to be touched so suddenly after everything that had happened, but when the other boy’s arms wound around him, he figured he hadn’t made that big of a misstep. 

“Fuck, I missed you,” Billy murmured, burying his face in Steve’s hair and breathing him in and man Steve was glad he showered today so his hair wasn’t gross. Though Billy was currently disgusting and Steve couldn’t give less of a fuck. 

“I missed you too,” Steve said, pulling back just a little and pushing Billy’s hair back from his face so he could really look at him. 

“You know,” Billy started, fiddly with Steve’s belt loops nervously. “I seem to recall you promising to kiss me at some point before...before all of this. Is--is that offer still good?” he asked. 

Steve swallowed hard. There were things they needed to talk about. What happened when Billy was possessed, where he had been this whole time, what he was planning to do next. But Billy was looking at him with those bright blue eyes that Steve had been so fucking lonely without and in that moment he didn’t care about any of the other stuff. 

“Yeah,” Steve said, cradling Billy’s face in his hands and bringing him close enough that their lips brushed together. “Still good.” 


End file.
